Dr. Mae C. Jemison, Miles College 2018 Commencement Speaker

Fairfield, AL- Dr. Mae C. Jemison, the first African-American female astronaut will be the speaker for the Miles College Commencement ceremony on Saturday, May 5, 2018, at 11:00a.m., at the Boutwell Auditorium. Miles College Class of 2018 sets a new graduation record with approximately 300 students participating in the ceremony.

A physician, engineer, educator, entrepreneur and former astronaut, Dr. Jemison is currently leading 100 Year Starship, a global initiative seed funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) to ensure the capability for interstellar human space flight by 2112.

A member of the National Academy of Medicine, Dr. Jemison has a medical degree from Cornell University; during her years there she studied in Cuba and Kenya, in addition to working at a Cambodian refugee camp in Thailand. After completing her medical training she joined the Peace Corps and served as the medical officer responsible for the health of volunteers serving in Liberia and Sierra Leone for two and a half years.

As a general practice doctor in Los Angeles, CA, Dr. Jemison earned a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering and the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in African and Afro-studies at Stanford University.

Following her return to the United States in 1985, Dr. Jemison made a career change and decided to follow a dream she had nurtured for a long time. In October, she applied for admission to NASA's astronaut training program. Dr. Jemison was one of the 15 candidates chosen from a field of about 2,000 of those who reapplied for the program after the Challenger Disaster.

Miles College is a premier liberal arts institution that enables graduates to become lifelong learners and responsible citizens who help shape the global society.

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Miles College, founded in 1898, is a premier liberal arts institution located in metropolitan Birmingham within the corporate limits of the City of Fairfield. The noble founders of the institution saw educated leadership as the paramount need in the black community... read more